


Not Alone

by KingHippiedude (missreader)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Misgendering, Trans, Trans Character, Trans Phil Coulson, Transgender, transgender character, transvengers, transvengers assemble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-03-09 11:59:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3248843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missreader/pseuds/KingHippiedude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the Transvengers Initiative prompt 16: College AU, my professor keeps calling me by the wrong name, with Phil Coulson/Clint Barton.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Phil was curled up in his boyfriend’s bed, wearing one of said boyfriend’s large purple sweatshirts and pretending that he wasn’t crying. When he heard the door open, he hastily wiped his eyes because _he wasn’t crying, dammit_. Not that Clint wouldn’t immediately be able to tell anyways.

“Hey Phil!” Clint said cheerfully before noticing the smudged remains of tear tracks on his boyfriend’s face. “Hey,” he said again, much gentler, sitting down next to Phil. “You okay?”

Phil looked at him silently for a moment and started to open his mouth to say that _he was fine, thank you very much_ before shutting his mouth and shaking his head. Almost immediately, he felt Clint’s arms come up and pull Phil into his side, holding him in a tight embrace. “It’ll be okay, Phil,” he whispered.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Clint asked a few minutes later, when he felt Phil relax.

“It was Professor Fleming. He called me ‘Anna’ again. The first couple times I could write it off as an honest mistake or maybe just forgetfulness, but this is the third time in a row. I’ve tried correcting him, but he keeps insisting on using everyone’s legal first names. He has us work in groups during class, and he puts the list of names for each group on the board, so everyone sees it.” Phil started sobbing as he finished, clinging to Clint.

It took a while for Phil to calm down and relax again. “How about I order us some Chinese for dinner, and then we can email someone about reporting him, okay? You don’t have to put up with this, and you definitely don’t have to deal with it alone.”


	2. Chapter 2

Phil and Clint sat at the desk in Clint’s dorm room, sharing more greasy Chinese food than they could hope to eat in one sitting.

Clint had a roommate, but she was rarely in the room and he had texted her earlier asking her to spend the night with a friend, with the promise of leftover Chinese takeout in compensation.

The two young men spoke very little while they gorged themselves on Chinese takeout, but once they were full, Clint turned to his boyfriend and gently said, “I’ll put the leftovers away; why don’t you get out of your binder and get comfortable.”

Phil fidgeted a little, not really wanting to take the binder off. Taking it off always reminded him that his body was wrong, and after the awful professor today, he didn’t need any more reminders.

“You know you have to take it off, Phil. You’re gonna hurt yourself. I’ve got one of your sports bras here, and you can keep wearing my sweatshirt, okay?”

Phil nodded, still not speaking, but he moved to change as Clint began to clean up.

When Clint grabbed his laptop and turned around again, Phil looked as comfortable as could be expected. He was wearing the large purple sweatshirt again, but he had swapped his jeans for a pair of Clint’s pajama pants that didn’t really fit either of them right but which were worn and cozy anyways. Clint shifted his pillows around and pulled Phil with him into a seated position with their backs against the wall. Phil nestled into Clint, leaning his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder.

Clint just booted up the computer and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Phil’s head. Phil had days like this sometimes, where things just got to be too much, and he went quiet and let Clint take over. Clint hated the silence, but he appreciated the trust that Phil had in him, and he always did his best to take care of him. “Alright, let’s try and find what the school policy says about reporting incidents like this.”

Phil gave no response, but Clint didn’t really expect him to.

After a long silence Clint said, “Okay, there’s not a lot of information here, but according to DC law, he shouldn’t be allowed to force you to use your legal name unless it is a situation where it's required by law, which it clearly isn’t. I’ll send an email to the address listed here and see what they have to say. We will fix this.” Phil nodded against Clint’s shoulder and watched as his boyfriend typed out a brief message explaining the situation to someone from the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and asking for advice.

Once the email had been sent, Clint opened Netflix and browsed for something to watch. “Any suggestions?” he asked Phil.

“Not _Robin Hood_ again,” Phil said quietly.

Clint let out a little laugh at that and finally settled on _Princess Diaries_ , which at least got a smile out of Phil. They resettled on the bed, lying down this time, and Clint turned out the light before spooning up behind his boyfriend, wriggling until he could see the movie. It was still fairly early, but Phil was asleep within minutes and Clint followed soon after.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Phil and Clint both woke before Clint’s alarm was set to go off. The early morning sun was shining brightly through the cheap curtains. They kissed lazily for a little while before full bladders and empty stomachs forced them out of bed. After they had taken care of the first problem, Clint grabbed some of his cookware and breakfast food and headed to the hall kitchen, still wearing his pajamas.

When Phil joined him a few minutes later, Clint was frying bacon and eggs. He hummed a greeting, and Phil stepped up behind him, kissing his boyfriend’s neck and hugging him from behind.

“Good morning,” Phil whispered.

“Food will be ready in a minute.”

“Mmm… I know. Love you.”

“I love you too, Phil.”

Phil grabbed the plates as Clint turned off the stove a moment later. One they were seated at the table and had started eating, Phil spoke up again, “thank you… for last night.”

“You don’t need to thank me for that. I told you, you don’t have to be--you _shouldn’t_ be--alone.”

“I know, but sometimes I need to be reminded.”

They ate the rest of the meal in silence, feet and legs tangling under the table.

Clint had checked his email after breakfast, just in case, but hadn’t been surprised that he hadn’t received a response yet. It had been after business hours the previous evening when he had sent the message and it was still early in the morning.

But that afternoon he saw a notification pop up saying he had an email.

> Clint,
> 
> I’m sorry that your friend has been having issues with one of his professors. I can’t do much without having contact with him directly, but that sounds like pretty clear cut harassment. I would absolutely be willing to speak to the professor on his behalf, and if the harassment doesn’t stop we can report it to the Dean’s office. Hopefully it won’t get to that point.
> 
> Please pass along this information and my contact info to your friend and have him get in touch and/or set up an appointment.
> 
> Best wishes,  
>  Stewart Camden  
>  Coordinator of LGBTQ Programming  
>  Pronouns: They/Them/Their or He/Him/His  
>  Center for Diversity & Inclusion | SHIELD University

Clint immediately forwarded the email to Phil.


End file.
